Pakistan PM Preparing Response to ‘Enemy’ India ‘Being Strengthened’ by US

Pakistan is preparing to respond to the U.S’ policy of empowering the South Asian nation’s longtime rival India, caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar told Newsweek Senior Foreign Policy Writer and Deputy Editor of National Security and Foreign Policy Tom O’Connor in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Kakar assumed office last month to oversee elections overshadowed by former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s bitter rivalry with his ousted predecessor Imran Khan, who has been charged with an array of offenses and is likely to be banned from entering the race. While Kakar was confident that the highly anticipated vote would go on, he acknowledged that stability remained a key issue as Pakistan faced economic turmoil and an uptick in militant attacks. The U.S. policy too skewed towards India is affecting the region. 

Adding fuel to the fire is the lingering insecurity in neighboring Afghanistan, which Kakar saw as the primary source of the rise in violence plaguing his country. But more potentially destabilizing still is the decades-long dispute along another border with India, which has fortified its relationship with the U.S. at a time when both nations sought to counter China, a crucial partner of Pakistan and, according to Kakar, the true target of India’s designs.

In June 2023, the joint statement, released after a meeting between Biden and Modi, called on Pakistan to ensure its territory isn’t used as a base for attacks by armed groups. Pakistan criticized the statement, describing it as contrary to diplomatic norms, and urged the US to refrain from making statements that could be seen as endorsing India’s narrative against Pakistan. 

After that statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry expressed concern to the US embassy’s deputy chief of mission regarding the statement. 

Although the US acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts in countering armed groups, it called for further steps to permanently dismantle terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. The region remains tense, with Pakistan and India engaged in long-standing conflicts over Kashmir and continued accusations of supporting armed groups.